From 55 to 1 ? Oak Ridge School chief finalists are interviewed

All four potential candidates for the position of schools superintendent have been interviewed, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education has met with its consultant.

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By Beverly Majors

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Beverly Majors

Posted Nov. 29, 2012 at 9:05 PM
Updated Nov 29, 2012 at 9:08 PM

By Beverly Majors

Posted Nov. 29, 2012 at 9:05 PM
Updated Nov 29, 2012 at 9:08 PM

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

All four potential candidates for the position of schools superintendent have been interviewed, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education has met with its consultant.

The next step is narrowing the field to one. BOE Chair Keys Fillauer shared with The Oak Ridger that the five-member board finished its last interview just after noon on Wednesday.

A professional search firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Ray and Associates conducted a nationwide search for Oak Ridge’s next schools chief. And last week, the Oak Ridge board received information regarding nine candidates the Iowa firm had selected based on the qualities and criteria the local school board had requested.

Though that initial selection was originally narrowed to five, one Oak Ridge schools superintendent candidate withdrew his application before the interviews were scheduled — citing a salary issue.

On Wednesday, three people were still in the mix for further review. Those potential candidates include:

• Neland Clark, superintendent of South Harrison Community School in Corydon, Ind.;

• Roger Collins, superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Livingston, Va.; and

• Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma city schools.

The fourth candidate, Kenneth Sorrick, former superintendent of North Palos School District, Palos Hills, Ill., also “pulled himself out after discussion of salary issues,” BOE chairman Fillauer said.

“He and his wife are interested in being in a more metropolitan area,” he further explained.

Fillauer said the Oak Ridge school board will now wait for Ray and Associates to contact the candidates again, “verify their interest … and then we go from there.”

Fillauer said the board now has several options. He said the board could bring one or more of the candidates back for another interview, or bring them back for a visit to meet citizens and see The Secret City.

“There will be some form of call back,” the chairman confirmed. “All are excellent; they all would make good superintendents in Oak Ridge.

“Now that’s what makes it difficult to make the right fit.”

Fillauer said the BOE is also “really pleased” with the Ray and Associates search firm.

“They have kept us on target and on the timeline. We’ve got our money’s worth, I will assure you.”

The search for a new school superintendent started earlier this year when Superintendent Tom Bailey announced he would retire at the end of the year. Bailey has been the superintendent for the past decade.

Ray and Associates made contact with more than 200 possible candidates from 42 states about the vacancy, and 55 of those contacts completed applications.

From those 55 applicants, the firm narrowed the field to nine candidates — a group from which the BOE chose its finalists.